Swedish lesbians wed more often than gay men

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It is more common for homosexual women to get married than gay men in Sweden, according to nationwide statistics published on Friday.

With the exception of the Stockholm County, every single county in Sweden has more female same-sex marriages or registered partnerships (sambo) than male same-sex relationships with an official seal.

The figures, taken from Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Central Byrån - SCB), showed that there are 4,521 females married to other females nationwide compared to 3,646 married gay men. The odd figure is due to SCB not including foreign women in the statistics.

Ulrika Westerlund, president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL), said that the gender differences were easily explained.

"It's quite simply more common that female couple have children," she told the Sirén news agency. "Many get married when they have a child to protect the child legally."

The news comes just days before Stockholm Pride Week, which is set to kick off on Tuesday and runs through to Saturday.

Gay marriage has been legal in Sweden since May 2009, making Sweden the ninth country in the world to allow same-sex marriage. The couples living together that don't apply to officially tie the knot live in registered partnerships, according to SCB. Such partnerships have been legal in Sweden since 1995.